A Pilot Investigation Into Japanese Speakers' Perceptions and Attitudes of Dialects in Fukui Prefecture

A Pilot Investigation into Japanese Speakers’ Perceptions and Attitudes of Dialects in Fukui Prefecture A Pilot Investigation into Japanese Speakers' Perceptions and Attitudes of Dialects in Fukui Prefecture Christopher Hennessy Abstract Recent research papers in perceptual dialectology have shown strong evidence for awareness, use, and affinity towards a Hokuriku dialect (Tanaka et al. 2016; Aizawa 2012). However, these recent research advances have a gap in that the dialect-rich Ho- kuriku area is described as one dialect boundary. The author conducted a pilot survey in November of 2017 to identify in general the perceptual dialectology map of Fukui Prefecture, understand a number of different aspects of attitudes towards the Fukui dialect, and further define the overall perceptual dialect maps of the Hokuriku region. This survey included 64 respondents from inside and outside of Fukui. Results indicated that Fukui natives tend to describe three overarching dialect boundaries within Fukui Prefecture (Fukui dialect, Kansai dialect, and Ono dialect) compared to two described by Fukui non-natives (Fukui dialect and Kansai dialect). Furthermore, the research showed a tendency for Fukui natives to find their own northern Fukui dialect to be the most pleasant, but there were also a large number of northern Fukui natives who described the Kansai dialect spoken in the southern part of the prefecture as most pleasant. Fi- nally, both those from the northern and southern parts of the prefecture described each other other's dialect as either "slightly different" or "completely different." Keywords: perceptual dialectology, dialect consciousness, Japanese linguistics, dialectology, Fukui dialect 1. Introduction The author, as a recent resident of Fukui City in Fukui Prefecture, conducted small-scale research in 2015 and 2016 using perceptual dialectology research tools, such as questionnaires and interviews, with local foreign residents of Fukui City and local Japanese residents native to Fukui City to understand and assess perceptions of the local dialect (Hennessy & Kuwabara 2017; Hennessy & Kuwabara 2016). Within the above research, participants described a number of different perceived dialect boundaries within Fukui Prefecture. Based on that, the author be- gan investigating these perceptual dialectology maps in other research and discovered both Tanaka et al. (2016) and Aizawa (2012), which suggested different attitudes towards the Ho- ―１３― 国際教育交流研究第２号 kuriku dialect, but did not look deeply into the attitudes towards dialects within Fukui Prefec- ture. To fill this gap, the author has conducted a small-scale pilot investigation that seeks to understand more the attitudes and perceptions towards dialects within Fukui Prefecture from both a Fukui native and non-native perspective. Specifically, the author will investigate: (1) perceptions of the number of dialects within Fukui Prefecture, (2) the areas and names of those dialect boundaries, (3) the level of pleasantness respondents feel towards the different dialects described, and (4) the level of similarity between the dialects described. 2. Methodologies In this section, the author will describe the research method utilized for collecting data from the 64 respondents, as well as the methods for determining the number of dialects, the naming of those dialects, the pleasantness level respondents have towards a dialect, and the similarity level the respondents feel between described dialects. 2-1. Questionnaire The author chose to use a questionnaire-style survey because of the ease in collecting larger amounts of data compared to other methods such as research interviews used in the author's previous research (Denscombe 2017). The research used standard demographic questions as well hand-drawn map methods utilized over many years in the field by Preston (1989; 1999), Long & Yim (2002), and Long (1999). The initial demographic portion contained seven questions in Japa- nese: (1) Gender, (2) Hometown, (3) Age, (4) Often-used dialects, (5) Occupation, (6) Length of time lived in Fukui Prefecture and areas lived, and (7) Length of time lived outside of Fukui Prefecture and areas lived. The hand-drawn map section of the questionnaire is described in detail below. 2-2. Hand-Drawn Maps Respondents were given a blank map of Fukui Prefecture with only city lines. They were then given directions in Japanese to: (1) draw circles over areas where they believe dialect boundaries occur, (2) give dialect names of drawn areas, (3) numerically rank the drawn areas from the most pleasant dialect to least 'pleasant' dialect, where '1' equals the most pleasant dialect, and (4) assign the drawn areas a similarity ranking to their own spoken dialect from (A) to (D), where (A) equals the same, (B) equals slightly different, (C) equals very different, and (D) equals incomprehensibly different. The research tools described in (1), (2), (3), and (4) are utilized in much of the previous literature in the field (Preston 1989; Preston 1999; Long 1999; Long & Yim 2002; McKinnie and Dailey-O'Cain 2002). ―１４― A Pilot Investigation into Japanese Speakers’ Perceptions and Attitudes of Dialects in Fukui Prefecture Figure 1: An example of the Fukui Prefecture map used 2-3. The Respondents For the purpose of this small-scale research, the author received 64 completed questionnaires. All participants were affiliated with a national university in Japan, either as an employee or student. Of the 64 questionnaires collected, 10 were discarded for various reasons such as not being completely filled out or using the city administrative lines seen in Figure 1 as dialect boundaries, essentially identifying every city as having its own dialect. Of the valid 54 questionnaires left, 39 were from Fukui natives and 15 were from non-natives. The age range of respondents is described in Figure 2: Fukui Native Age Range Number of Respondents 10s 16 20s 10 30s 3 40s 6 50s 2 60s 2 TOTAL 39 Fukui Non-Native 10s 8 20s 7 TOTAL 15 Figure 2: Age range of respondents ―１５― 国際教育交流研究第２号 Among these, all had demographic questions and hand-drawn areas completed for general use, but some were not complete with regards to dialect naming, pleasantness level, and similarity level. However, even if these latter sections were not completed, the questionnaires were still utilized for their dialect boundary element. 3. Dialect Boundaries in Fukui In terms of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, there are two overarching dialect boundaries in Fukui as given in descriptive linguistics: (1) Reihoku － the northern area, and (2) Reinan － the southern area. The boundary split occurs at the furthest north part of Tsuruga City, which is also an area of a geographical split due to a mountain range within the prefecture. The Reihoku dialect belongs to the overall set of dialects in the Hokuriku region which comprises Fukui Pre- fecture, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Toyama Prefecture. The Reinan dialect belongs to the Kinki set of dialects, which also encompasses major cities such as Osaka and Kyoto. The grammar of both areas are similar, however the vocabulary can differ significantly (Sato 2003). Within the Reihoku area, smaller dialect boundaries exist between the western and eastern parts. In the west, the major cities of Fukui City, Sabae City, and Takefu City are considered accentless. However, both Ono City and Katsuyama City in the eastern part of Reihoku are considered part of the Keihan-type accent dialects, which are best represented again by Kyoto and Osaka (Kindaichi 1977). Ishikawa Prefecture and Toyama Prefecture, situated north of Fukui Prefecture, are also considered part of the Keihan-type accent dialects, meaning the accentless western part of Reihoku in Fukui Prefecture is surrounded by otherwise Keihan-type dialects, a remarkable phenomenon. 4. Fukui Native Spoken Dialects In this section, the author will highlight some major parts of the data reflecting Fukui native respondents' own evaluation of their spoken dialects in the demographic section. Out of the 54 valid questionnaires received, 39 were from respondents who identified their hometown as within Fukui Prefecture. From those 39 respondents, there were 29 who identified one specific dialect spoken, with six indicating two dialects spoken. By far the most named dialect spoken was Fukui dialect, which 26 respondents gave as their spoken dialect. All of these listed their hometown as somewhere in the western part of Reihoku. There was only one respondent who listed their hometown as Ono City, however, they also listed their dialect as the Ono dialect, giving evidence towards a dialect split perception between the east and west parts of Reihoku noted above by descriptive linguists. Finally of note, there were two respondents who listed their hometown as Tsuruga City. Both listed Tsuruga dialect as their spoken dialect, with one of them also citing Kansai dialect as a spoken dialect, suggesting some ―１６― A Pilot Investigation into Japanese Speakers’ Perceptions and Attitudes of Dialects in Fukui Prefecture sort of perception split between the dialect spoken in Tsuruga City and the Kansai dialect, which is the dialect centered in Osaka and Kyoto, as a whole. 5. Fukui Native and Fukui Non-Native Dialect Perceptions In this section, the author will highlight the Fukui dialect boundaries drawn on the map by respondents from both Fukui and not from Fukui. The data suggests two quite different perceptions of Fukui speech boundaries between these two sets of respondents. 5-1.

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